ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football coach
Brent Key spoke to the media on Tuesday just ten days away from the Jackets Birmingham Bowl showdown with Vanderbilt. The Jackets have weathered some portal departures including the recent announcement of edge rusher
Romello Height leaving on Monday. Key said he is grateful to have his roster intact enough to play next week.
With Height departed the Jackets have several options including senior edge Kevin Harris who started over Height in the Syracuse game earlier this year and has just under 1,000 career snaps on defense in four seasons at defensive end/outside linebacker. The bigger question is about who will rotate with Harris at that edge spot next week in the bowl game. Redshirt Freshman
Jacob Cruz and true freshman
Amontrae Bradford have both taken snaps at that position this season in limited action along with true freshman
Jordan Boyd who has played both end spots.
Key said he is thankful they have enough players to weather some departures, unlike other bowl-bound programs who are struggling to field a team right now.
"We play a lot of guys on defense and we play a lot of guys in general on that side of the ball," Key said of the edge spot. "We've got guys on the team and one person is not going to make a difference as far as the rotational depth and having bodies to play. You see some of these teams out there in dire straits as far as being able to play a game. That is not the case at all. We are going to continue to coach the guys that are here and prepare them not only for this game but their careers at Georgia Tech."
The Jackets like most teams are using the early part of bowl practice to focus on developmental players who spent most of the fall working on the scout team.
"We are still in developmental practices with our team. That was our fifth practice or sixth, it was probably one of the better bowl practices from the physicality and intensity of it and the communication with both sides of the ball. We did some competitive good-on-good sequences toward the end and some different situational things," Key said. "I'm really proud of our team up to this point and what they've done. It will be a similar day tomorrow and then we will get into game planning and introducing the opponent on Friday. We are a week out trying to keep a normal routine with maybe one extra practice in there."
Key said the focus in practice has impressed him, he said often teams have players focused on different things but the guys seem to be locked in.
Key said he thinks this is a really good matchup with Vandy and he thinks they got it right with two similar teams. They've sold 3x the allotment of tickets and expect a lot of fans and there will be a lot of gold in the stadium, but he wants to make sure it is Tech fans wearing it.
Key said that Ethan Mackenny will be the left tackle for the bowl game and the future of the program. He said that Mackenny has played great ball since he came back from injury that limited him to four regular season games and he started 8 games last year at LT and has played at a really consistent level whenever he is out there and played good football.
Key said that Isiah Canion is a good football player and he is getting stronger and maturing coming off his HS shoulder injury and he is starting to understand the intricacies of the position more
GT has been focused on working the younger guys in practice more and Key said that OLs Tana Alo-Tupuola and Benjamin Galloway both have looked really impressive in practice the last two weeks as well as TE Luke Harpring. On the D side, he mentioned Zachary Tobe as standing out.
I asked him about navigating the portal and dealing with the visits, he said it is not difficult but challenging but it is what college football is in 2024. He said complaining about it is a waste of time and you can't look at it like his giant black cloud over the sport. His focus is to develop players and get better for next season while building up the roster.
Key explained the fat guy kicking competition, I suggest you watch the youtube video, he told a funny GOL story involving long-time Green Bay OG Josh Sitton who played for him at UCF and how Sitton hit a 42-yard FG in practice. Key said that Landen Marshall made one and Jameson Riggs was bombing kicks, but kept missing left, he said they even moved the ball to the right hash and he still hooked it.
They had some fun this week letting some of the players play different positions for a period in practice and do some one-on-ones or whatever to see what it is like at other spots on the field.
I asked him about Haynes King and Aaron Philo making their declarations about staying at GT, he said that there are four words in the team meeting room (where the media avail was) discipline, toughness, execution and commitment and that last one is one that people often glance over. Commitment is the single most important thing when it comes to a team and being a player here at Georgia Tech. You've got to be committed to yourself number one, you've got to be committed to doing what is best to make yourself better and improve yourself but then you also have to be committed to your position and your side of the ball and the team. Those guys are committed here for their development and growth and what they want to be in the future and he thinks their commitment to Georgia Tech shows how important that is and he said he couldn't have two better examples of that commitment moving forward as a program. It was a cool idea and those two went with it and a few others have followed.
